Richard Granda Sidra Washed

Richard was introduced to me by our common friend, and Colombian coffee producing legend Mauricio Shattah. I met Richard and his son, Richard Jr. back in Ecuador in 2022 and I was impressed by their humble demeanor. They, like many avantgarde Ecuador producers, are taking great care of their processing and using science and targeted cupping to hone in on the right processes for each variety they grow. I have since discovered that behind the humble demeanor of Richard Sr. is a coffee producing legend that is intent on changing the coffee communities in the impoverished region of Zamora.

This lot is 100% Sidra. The coffee was processed with a 24 hour oxidative fermentation in cherry - this is a less common practice of exposing the cherries to oxygen for 24 hours. I don’t know much about this process, but it’s been explained to me as an enzymatic process that develops sweetness and highlights florals and fruityness. The coffee was then depulped and then fermented for another 36 hours. After all this, it was washed and dried on raised beds for 20 days.

Although Richard has been a coffee producer for decades, his farm in Zamora is pretty new. In 2018, Richard began planting coffee on a farm, called La Reserva. We bought from La Reserva for a couple of years, but Richard and his partners decided to part ways and now we buy from Richard’s new farm “Finca Dalinda” which sits around 1700m surrounded by lush native forests.

I respect both Richards (son and father) for their desire to make a social impact. In the surrounding areas in Zamora, hundreds of small producers sell their coffee to intermediaries who pay them pennies on the dollar and resell for a big profit. The Richards have been helping these producers by connecting them directly with buyers such as myself who will pay them what their coffee is worth and will allow them to begin thriving from the sale of their coffee. 

The region of Zamora poses some challenges for coffee producers since it’s a jungle at lower elevations and very rainy and humid at higher elevations. But Richard used his years of experience planting new farms to ensure he provisioned for the weather and took advantage of the moisture in the right way. Only someone with lots of experience and Richard’s magic touch can pull this off. This year, they moved their processing off the farm to nearby Vilcabamba where it is dry and ideal for processing and drying coffees.